Snoebird

I think the point is that the Brewers have become hard to watch. They need an injection of slugging to be competitive, and they're not getting enough from Yelich, Contreras, Chourio, Ortiz and Mitchell.

The trade that would make the Brewers' lineup potent would be for Nolan Arenado, who is owed $74 million for the next three seasons and who needs to leave St. Louis in order for the Cardinals to launch a youth movement that Chaim Bloom will oversee. Outgoing President John Mozeliak has "Trade Arenado" atop his to-do list, but Arenado has been playing hard-to-leave. He has spoken fondly of the Brewers in the past, but I kind of doubt that Matt Arnold would want him to interfere with his own youth movement, not to mention adding a sizable salary to the payroll.

In a preseason poll, I guessed that the Brewers' 2025 MVP would be Sal Frelick because I foresaw a need for him to play third base. Of course it would be nice to see Sal being treated like the Gold Glove right fielder that he is, but the low-rent state of the Brewers doesn't allow for that. We just saw Jackson Chourio kick a game because Frelick was bypassed to play center field. Versatility is the glue that holds this team together. My preseason vision included tangible outfield contributions from Garrett Mitchell and Tyler Black, but, barring that, Frelick moving to third would merely leave a hole in the outfield.

It doesn't matter where Burnes is pitching now. The return on a trade for a staff ace was perpetually injured DL Hall and, so far, a light-hitting infielder. The galling part is that the Orioles' org was overflowing with talent when the trade was made.

Is getting married a good or bad thing for a player's confidence in his ability to earn a living? Ortiz got hitched and then went to spring training, where he saw the future at his position in Cooper Pratt. Notwithstanding the difference in their experience levels, Pratt carries himself like a veteran and is built like one. I expected to see more muscle on Ortiz, but apparently that's not happening. I think Ortiz's worst fears will be realized soon if he doesn't find a groove at the plate. As it stands, this makes the Corbin Burnes trade look like a bust for the Crew.

Apparently nobody believes Sal Frelick can play third base. Pat Murphy does, and has said as much. And the more time Frelick spends at third, the greater the opportunity for Tyler Black to replace his 2021 draft buddy in the outfield. The Brewers are in no position to ignore a hitting prospect like Black, and the outfield appears to be his calling. Given Yelich's uncertain timetable for returning to full strength and Mitchell's injury history, Black should be given an open window to win a roster spot as an outfielder.

Molitor missed 492 games -- two broken bones, elbow and hamstring injuries plus a shoulder impingement -- in his first 10 seasons and was the first non-pitcher to undergo Tommy John surgery. But he always had those quick wrists at the plate, and had a great late career thanks to his move to DH.

I have two concerns. Both deal with ownership and its narrow-mindedness regarding its immediate and distant neighborhood. I would like to see the 20-square-block asphalt hole in the center of Milwaukee developed into parking ramps, bars/restaurants, green spaces and hotels/motels that would create tax revenue for Milwaukee County and cut into the booming bed business in Brookfield. Tailgating would be shrunk. I would also like to see the fastest-growing metro area in Wisconsin be at the very least recognized by Brewers ownership. Madison's population boom is entering a stronger phase, and the city has become the Midwest's mecca of tech jobs. It would behoove Brewers management to embrace a metro area that exceeds 500,000. Madison is every bit as capable as Des Moines, Omaha and St. Paul of becoming a Triple-A outpost, and could form rivalries with those three neighboring International League cities. With Nashville on the verge of trading its IL team for a MLB franchise, it would make sense for Brewers ownership to pursue an acquisition of the Sounds to anchor that AAA affiliate as well as invest in Madison's growth. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway would support plans for a ballpark that the Brewers could build in conjunction with Madison-based American Family Insurance, just as she is rooting for an Amtrak line from Madison to Milwaukee that would require a station. As someone who watched absentee ownership lead to the Braves' departure from Milwaukee, it bothers me that Mark Attanasio has never publicly been photographed in any other Wisconsin city except Milwaukee. It also bothers me that he has assigned Rick Schlesinger to deal with politicos of all manor. He has mentioned his desire for an entertainment district adjacent to his stadium but has done nothing to initiate it. You can't move a stadium, so the pact the Brewers struck with the city, county and state was no great surprise. But the fact that the Brewers aren't realizing the potential for more revenue in their neighborhood as well as eventual revenue in that booming capital city an hour away makes this old-timer uneasy.

Thanks for illuminating some of us old Braves fans on the many challenges Rico Carty faced. I do have one correction to make, and it's a significant one. The Braves were Milwaukee's second major league team. From Wikipedia: The St. Louis Browns was a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they played for 52 years as the St. Louis Browns. After the 1953 season, the team moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where it became the Baltimore Orioles. BTW, the American League was founded in Milwaukee on Jan. 28, 1901. A plaque was erected at the site of the meeting in the parking lot of the former Journal Sentinel building. I'm not sure many Milwaukeeans knew this, either, that the Bucks are the city's second NBA team. The Atlanta Hawks spent four seasons at the Milwaukee Arena in the early 1950s before moving to St. Louis. The only newsworthy event during the Hawks' stay in Wisconsin was the drafting of future hall of famer Bob Pettit in 1954. Owner Ben Kerner gave up on the city because the Braves commanded more attention during their offseason than the Hawks received in-season.

Having the rangiest second baseman in MLB means your team has adjusted to the elimination of the overshift rule better than anyone else. I'll take all of those runs Turang saved over Drury's modest offensive numbers.

Pat Murphy nailed it in spring training when he said of Brice Turang, "He's my second baseman." Which was a bold statement given how much of an offensive liability Turang was in his rookie season. After watching Turang make the most of his ability every day of the 2024 season, I will predict that most of the starting positions will be swapped out over the next four or five years except one.

William Contreras was so beaten up from catching at the end of this season that he posed no offensive threat in the postseason. The Brewers need to take his health into consideration when Quero joins the big league club. How they handle the DH position among Yelich, Hoskins, Contreras and possibly Black will be interesting.

The upshot to the Twins' cutting payroll by $30 million was season-long criticism of ownership that heightened during the team's September fade and led to the Twins being put up for sale. The Pohlad family has owned the team for 40 years, including its World Series championship years of 1987 and '91, but it was known for being very bottom-line conscious. Attendance fell this year along with viewership because Bally spent much of the season battling Comcast for higher-tier cable status, and blackouts resulted. Twins fans are hoping for owners with fat wallets while ignoring that their market is saturated with sports and the long-term TV situation with the Diamond Sports refugees remains unsettled. If the Twins were to be sold and relocated, the team that stands to benefit most would be the Brewers. Fans of a certain age might recall that the Twins arrived in Minnesota in 1961, and one year later, Lou Perini put the Milwaukee Braves up for sale. The Twins cut into the Braves' media market and pulled fans from northern and western Wisconsin. As a result, the wide-open spaces of the Southeast became very attractive to the Braves' new owners, who moved the team to Atlanta after the 1965 season.